The World's Desire

by H. Rider Haggard, Andrew Lang, Lin Carter (Introduction)

The World's Desire, coauthored with Andrew Lang, is the continuing story of Odysseus, who returns to Ithaca to find his home destroyed. Aphrodite orders him to go to Egypt to seek out the immortal Helen, whom he wooed before marrying Penelope. This book might be called The Further Adventures of Odysseus or The Odyssey, Part 2.

Genres: Fantasy, Classics, Fiction, Adventure, Historical Fiction, Mythology, Novels

239 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1890

About the author

Sir Henry Rider Haggard, KBE was an English writer of adventure novels set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and the creator of the Lost World literary genre. His stories, situated at the lighter end of the scale of Victorian literature, continue to be popular and influential. He was also involved in agricultural reform and improvement in the British Empire.

His breakout novel was King Solomon's Mines (1885), which was to be the first in a series telling of the multitudinous adventures of its protagonist, Allan Quatermain.

Haggard was made a Knight Bachelor in 1912 and a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1919. He stood unsuccessfully for Parliament as a Conservative candidate for the Eastern division of Norfolk in 1895. The locality of Rider, British Columbia, was named in his memory.

Reviews

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

True confession: I have never actually read The Iliad or The Odyssey. (Someday. Someday.) But I don't believe that materially impacted my enjoyment of this book, in which H. Rider Haggard and Andrew Lang, in a piece of ... fan fiction? two and a half thousand years after the fact, took up the tale of wily Odysseus (who, in this book, is more often than not referred to as the Wanderer) and that most beautiful of women, Helen.

The story begins with Odysseus standing in the ruins of his home, when he's waylaid by Sidonian pirates and promptly hauled to Egypt, where the bulk of the story (which, most notably, will not include most of those Sidonian pirates -- the Wanderer takes poorly to being shanghaied) takes place.

Egypt, as it happens, is having problems of its own -- Meriamun, Pharaoh's wife and sister (as was the style at the time) doesn't see any particular reason why she shouldn't be in charge of things; and there's also the False Hathor, a goddess(?) who has recently taken up residence in the city, and whose beauty is such that any men who see her go mad and die (or are killed by invisible blades? at any rate, it's bad). (And, mentioned almost in passing, there are these two holy men of a slave race who are trying to convince Pharaoh to release their people from bondage by inflicting a series of plagues, each more terrible than the last.)

And into this heady mix is thrown Odysseus, who (wily fellow that he is) deduces that the "False Hathor" must, in fact, be Helen, but who (perhaps not so wily after all) will find himself enmeshed in Meriamun's schemes (and arms).

Again, I've not read the original Homeric epics, so I can't compare this directly to them, but I will say it was a fine, finely-written tale of love and adventure and fate and betrayal and all those other great things. (And I'm also wondering if, in the enmeshing of Meriamun, Helen and Odysseus, we're getting some kind of echo of the travails of Ayesha, Kallikrates and Amenartas, as had been previously recounted in Rider Haggard's She: A History of Adventure.)

[Wreade1872 · Rating 2 out of 5]

dnf...
It has been a long time since i haven't finished a book but i feel justified on this occasion, not because the writing is particularly bad but because i've read this freaking story at least 3 or 4 times already.
Its Haggards same tired eternal love-triangle shtick same as She and The Return of She (which is better than the original IMO) and the same as The Ancient Allan and who knows ho many others.

I only made it a third of the way through but already had two different characters get a layout of events to come from different gods/spirits. As if i didn't already know.

This is built as a sequel to The Odyssey but its version of Odysseus also holds no interest. At least with Allan Quatermain you had a vulnerable slightly incompetent Indiana Jones type hero and with SHE well Ayesha had all sorts of interesting elements to her.

This version of Odysseus is very strong, very into war and very into Helen of Troy, none of which are characteristics you would see in any modern interpretation of the character.

The only thing which might be of interest if i continued would be that this uses a mix of Greek, Egyptian and Biblical mythologies, but its not enough to get me to read this plotline yet again.

[Anisha Inkspill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Odysseus, here with the epitaph of ‘the wanderer’, returns home to discover he is all alone. Ithaca struck by a plague is left desolate killing many including his family. Not the welcome home he expected from his second voyage, lesser known than his first (recorded in Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey). Even Athena has deserted him, feeling lost he wanders over to Aphrodite’s temple, a woman’s voice from his past speaks to him asking to be rescued and offering love. Wasting no time, he sets of on a new adventure heading to Egypt. On way and there he encounters new dangers and foes, as well as new friends but this is all nothing where he is about to face the biggest challenge of his life to obtain the love of the world’s desire, Helen of Troy. For a man who has fought monsters and lived through a war this should be easy but there’s another woman who stands in his way, Pharaoh’s wife, who wants Odysseus all to herself where she will go to any lengths to have him, and if she can’t then she’s determined that no one else will either.



First published in 1890s, this revision tale is a collaborative work of H.D. Haggard and Andrew Lang. I recognised some of some of the story details from Tales of Troy: Ulysses, the sacker of cities. It’s a slushy action adventure with heavy-handed archetypes of good (the demure golden Helen of Troy, loved by all men) and bad (pharaoh’s wife, Lady Meriamun, a clever ambitious woman who dabbles in magic).

In its time I could imagine this to be a thrilling read, and though I found the plot predictable it was a kind of a page turner all be it outdated one. Maybe I would have enjoyed this more if its positive female role model had more substance than just being beautiful and warm, and the romance didn’t keep slipping into a cheese fest. I also thought the poetry which continually broke the novel’s prose didn’t add much to it. However, I did smile at a couple of scenes to do with fire and sacrifice, they reminded me of a movie I once saw, She (1965) based on a novel by H G Haggard of the same title.

My favourite part of this book was the Preface mentioning the recent discoveries made by Dr. Schliemann and Mr. Flinders Petrie and how it fostered new interest in Classical Greek. I could feel the excitement of wondering if there is truth in Homer’s work. Elsewhere, I discovered how Schliemann left his mark, regardless this is a question that is still debated today.

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Haggard and Lang try very hard to line up the language with the translated epics of the time, and mostly succeed in the task. But the result is a majestic writing built atop a confused philosophy and use of characters that already have a purpose within the mythology. I am not certain what drove the authors to decide that the world needed a Odysseus/Helen-of-Troy fan fiction which, in a few pages, obliterates the satisfying endgame of the Odyssey and later stages a love triangle featuring a woman who he once pretended insanity in order to avoid. All in a cosmic scope that suggests cycles of reincarnation without committing to the concept and an essential female essence that is split between the up-on-a-pedestal untouchable beauty and a witch/harlot/evil queen (which would undoubtedly warrant some commentary in a gender studies curriculum).

The authors do draw in elements of traditional Greek tragedy: the seeds of failure are sown early and capture both its preventability and its inevitability given the flaws of all involved. The Wanderer will lose his craftiness just as he needs it most (to FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS YOU WERE GIVEN YOU IDIOT) just as Queen Meriamun implements machinations and betrayals with a lack of foresight to the obvious consequences.

The oddest element is the incorporation of the biblical Exodus, as Odysseus enters Egypt at the time of the plagues and the departure of the Israelites. It sets up the obvious endgame for the Egyptian army and highlights Miriamun's tragic flaw--she insists on blaming the plagues on the "False Hathor" despite evidence to the contrary--but the portrayal of the 'Apura' people as they depart is not exactly reminiscent of _The Ten Commandments_.

[Lisa (Harmonybites) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not going to claim that Haggard even at his best is the same order of classic as the best by Charles Dickens, the Brontes, George Eliot or Thomas Hardy. But like fellow Victorians Arthur Conan Doyle or Robert Louis Stevenson or Rudyard Kipling, Haggard really could spin a good yarn, and the fantasy genre in general owes him a great debt. Ten of his books are on my bookshelves. I gobbled those up in my teens and most I remember very, very well even decades later. My favorite of his novels involve Ayesha, especially the book Wisdom's Daughter, which is also set in Ancient Egypt and like The World's Desire, could be seen as historical fantasy. This is my second favorite of the Haggard books I've read, and is actually a collaboration with Andrew Lang, and other.

The back cover bills this as "the third Odyssey" and involves Odysseus, Homer's hero. At the end of The Odyssey we know that Odysseus must undertake another journey to placate Poseidon. In Haggard's novel, he returns only to find Penelope slain and his home burned to the ground. He then undertakes a new quest--to find his true love Helen under the auspices of Aphrodite. In a way that irked me a bit. Goodness knows Ancient Greek literature isn't perhaps the place to find strong female characters, but I always loved Penelope, a great match for Odysseus, noted for her cunning (remember her unweaving of the shroud to fool the suitors.) Helen on the other hand, is noted for physical beauty. And certainly this isn't a classic on the order of Homer! But taken for what it is, a crackling adventure yarn and fantasy, this is a lot of fun, as long as you aren't put off by Victorian prose or political sensibilities.

[Neil Stanley · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting 19th century fantasy tale of the further adventures of Odysseus, aka the Wanderer, by H. Rider Haggard, one of the great adventure writers of his time, in collaboration with Andrew Lang, best known for his voluminous compilations of Fairy stories. Odysseus returns home from a further voyage ( after that described in the Odyssey) to find his wife, family & in fact the entire population of his kingdom of Ithaca wiped out by plague. In his grief he is visited by the goddess Aphrodite & told his destiny is to find Helen (of Troy), the ‘World’s Desire’ who is now worshipped in Egypt. Odysseus is captured by Sidonian traders who intend selling him in the slave market of Egypt. As they reach Egypt, in true Homeric fashion, he manages to overcome & kill most of his captors & becomes a favourite of Merenptah, the Egyptian pharaoh. Egypt, at the time, is afflicted by the Biblical plagues of the Old Testament, brought on by the curses of the Apura (Jews) who the pharaoh eventually releases.
The story is now woven around the intrigue between Meriamun, the pharaohs sister who is also in love with Odysseus & the ‘False Hathor’ as Helen is known in Egypt. It is an interesting read, although can be a little tedious at times, with many ‘thees & thous’ & is not a patch on Homer’s original ‘Odyssey’, but probably worth a read if you are a fan of Homer, where the story is intertwined with occurrences in the Old Testament.

[Toby Simmons · Rating 5 out of 5]

The sequel to the Odyssey, written in Homer’s style.

My favourite book as a child was Tales of the Greek Heroes, by Roger Lancelyn Green. I passed this on to my son (who has reread it an acceptable number of times!), and I happened to notice an afterward in this new edition of my son’s. Green attributes his love of myths and desire to share them to Haggard’s World’s Desire, which I figured was as good a recommendation as you could get!

It was just like discovering a lost book of Homer’s. I actually cried. In fact, writing this review is making me want to read it again

If you like the Odyssey, you’ll love what happens next

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Odysseus's last voyage, and Helen's last fling. Very stirring, set in Egypt at the time of the 10 plagues, complete with the Slaves/let my people go elements. Loads of spooky supernatural happenings, prophecies, imaginative description. I sense this may have been one source for Raiders of the Lost Ark (city of Tanis), and the reincarnation of separated/competing lovers in the Deverry series by Katherine Kerr.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written and very dramatic. For some reason it was slow going for me, even though I enjoyed it quite a lot. I think the characters always seemed so mythical that I couldn't identify well with them. I'm sure that was the intent of the authors, and it was done well, but it might explain why I didn't find it a page turner.

[The Usual · Rating 3 out of 5]

The World's Desire is a sequel to the Odyssey, largely set in biblical Egypt and featuring an evil sorceress queen and the lovely Helen of Troy. It is, I think, more more Christian than pagan and more Hollywood than Homeric epic. It's also one of those incredibly serious pieces of romantic writing that provoke a fit of the giggles when taken on anything other than their own terms. And there are fight scenes.

Now, my suspicion (on the basis of precisely no evidence) is that Haggard was mostly responsible for those fight scenes, and that Lang, left to his own devices, would have written some kind of weird, George MacDonald-esque allegorical thing. You certainly get a fair slice of weirdy allegorical (with added alliteration) and a dash of technicolour swashbuckling before it settles down. Once it does...

... This is probably just me. Once it settled down all the characters turned up in my head with big hair and slightly suspicious suntans. It was like one of those films that always seemed to be on the television on a wet bank-holiday Monday. That's not so much a problem as a flavour.

More of a problem was the language, which took a bit of getting used to. All those thees and thous felt about as authentic as a mock-tudor bungalow.

Nevertheless, and rather in spite of myself, I rather enjoyed it.

[Adam Carnehl · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fitting sequel this curious little novel is to The Odyssey! Co-authored by Haggard, a gifted writer with a penchant for crafting fantastic adventure novels, and Lang, a brilliant translator and pioneering folklorist, The World's Desire is a romance rife with magical spells, dark divinations, rapturous love, blood-spattered combat, and encounters with the gods themselves. While I found the plot rather slow and repetitive in the middle, the climactic ending more than made up for it. The supernaturalism throughout the book was thrilling, especially in the closing chapters, and Odysseus's named weapons that exerted some kind of will of their own were totally awesome. Perhaps Tolkien borrowed an idea or two when it came to his own enchanted weapons in The Lord of the Rings?

As classicists themselves, the attention that Haggard and Lang give to other Greek, Egyptian, and even Israelite stories is very entertaining. Yet what is most interesting about the story is the late-Victorian interpretation of the Homeric legends themselves, specifically the whole Odyssean saga and their chosen outcome for the hero. There is much more attention to romantic, sexual love and to the unique power of Womanhood in The World's Desire than in either The Iliad or The Odyssey, which frequently treat women as "prizes," and sexuality as male pleasure-seeking. Indeed, neither of Homer's works could be called a "Romance" at all, as this novel clearly is from the first chapter. Chesterton is right when he says, "Romance is the deepest thing in life; romance is deeper even than reality." For even if the Greek gods are pure invention, even if Odysseus never existed, even if the Achaeans never battled the Egyptians, even still, is there some deep and divine truth behind the glorious perfection of Helen, who is Womanhood, Beauty, and Love incarnate. Helen is She, whom, alas, Man can never reach until he is perfected by Resurrection.

[TMN · Rating 3 out of 5]

The World's Desire is more Victorian than Homerian. In spite of being co-written with Andrew Lang, an anthropologist, this is a typical Haggard novel. It contains much Victorian sentimentality as well as a little Victorian brutality. Helen of Troy, the World's Desire, is the archetypical woman that all men search for, unless they are gay, that is; besides being eternal and eternally young, she is more beautiful than mortal women, even though she seems to be slightly less intelligent than most of them. But I guess that was the Victorian ideal. Beautiful, but dumb. Haggard's Helen is similar in every way to Ayesha, or She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed, and other more than human heroines that he created during his long, lucrative career. His Odysseus is not surprisingly more like Alan Quatermain than the hero of Homer's Odyssey. The novel is readable but far from top shelf Haggard. What I dislike most about it is that it feels false to the work that it is meant to be a homage to. The morals that it proudly parades through its slightly more than 200 pages are are as Victorian as the language. It also has a little antisemitism, something that was typical for the adventure stories written at the time.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story opens with Odysseus making his second return to Ithaca after again being sent by gods to on a another wandering odyssey. He returns, finding Ithaca devastated by an earthquake and all the inhabitants killed by a plague. Aphrodite orders him to go to Egypt to seek out the immortal Helen, whom he wooed before marrying Penelope and this starts the story.

It is on the scale of a Greek Homeric epic in which Odysseus travels to Egypt at the time of Moses seeking the release of Israelites and finds himself involved in a love triangle. A recurring motif in Haggard tales of lovers reincarnated time and time again seeking each other.

In other words, this Haggard tale has a little bit of everything which is not unusual for a Haggard tale.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The World's Desire is the follow up story, to the Odyssey, telling an alternate tale, of the end days of Ulysses. Helen of Troy figures prominently in it as well as the biblical story of the Plagues of Egypt. All in all a well written, short read, for anyone, who doesn't mind reading a book written, in the style of the Trojan era epics. If you have only read Haggard's, Quartermain books this one is definitely a departure from that series, Eric Brighteyes would be much closer in style. In closing a good read, give it a try, you won't be sorry.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

An 130 year old Odyssey fanfic... What a silly trip. Haggard and Lang essentially rewrite the ending to Homer’s epic (technically they don’t) and send Odysseus on his way to win his true love(?). Oh and somehow Helen has always loved Odysseus... And really, that is not even the craziest addition to this story. If you had told me this story came out in the last 20 years, I would have exercised my eye-roll muscles along with a believing nod. At this primordial stage of fantasia... I was shocked. And also entertained, if sometimes in a bemused way.

[Wade Burgess · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started this novel and then set it aside for years. Upon picking it up again the second time, I finished it. It was enjoyable but not my favorite Haggard novel.

[Mbuye · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this 1890 romance, part historical fiction but mostly fantasy, H. Rider Haggard and Andrew Lang create a new and final Odyssey. They take up the post-Homeric tradition of the "Second Wandering"—the "unsung" journey where Odysseus travels inland to appease Poseidon. In the original myths (the Telegony), he is killed by Telegonus, his son by Circe. At this point, Haggard and Lang begin the tale of ‘The World's Desire,’ in which Odysseus, now known not as the son of Laertes but as the Wanderer, is about to embark on his third and final journey.

In this adventure, the Wanderer returns to Ithaca from his second travels to find a desolate ruin, ravaged by earthquake and pestilence. Penelope is dead, and Telemachus is gone. Crucially, Athena has turned away her face. Weary of the "blood-guilt" from the slaughter of the suitors and the restless wars of his second journey, the Goddess of Wisdom withdraws her protection. Her divine shield vanishes, leaving the Wanderer physically and spiritually vulnerable.

In her place comes Aphrodite. She offers neither wisdom nor safety, but only ‘The World's Desire’—Helen of Troy. Odysseus accepts this new quest and is sent to Egypt during the reign of Pharaoh Meneptah, the pharaoh of the Exodus.

Upon entering the Pharaoh's court, the Wanderer presents a striking image of Imperial Gothic decay: he cannot remove his helmet or harness because the battles of his second wandering have literally "welded" and wedged the metal to his body. He is a "Living Weapon" who needs the tools of a blacksmith just to be an ordinary man again.

The narrative then unfolds through the eyes of the priest Rei, who acts as a Greek chorus to the clash of three worlds:

The Heroic Greek: The Wanderer, armed with the Bow of Eurytus.

The Sorcerous Egyptian: Represented by the "evil" Queen Meriamun, who uses shape-shifting to trick the Wanderer into breaking his vow to Helen (the "false Hathor").

The Rising Hebrew: The Apiru, led by a Moses whose faceless God of Law renders the magic of Egypt and the strength of Greece obsolete.

Odysseus plays a final, brilliant strategic hand in defeating the Aquaiusha - the Sea Peoples (possibly the displaced warriors and families fleeing from the burning city when Troy fell) but he cannot outrun the prophecy of the "spear from the sea" as foretold by Tiresias the blind prophet, when according to Homer, Odysseus had visited the Underworld. He falls in battle, a relic of the Bronze Age giving way to a new era. While the Wanderer dies, Helen remains immortal, and the novel closes with the promise of their eternal recurrence:

"The World's Desire is sought of all, but found of few,
and she dwells in the House of the King.
But the Wanderer shall find her again,
in a land that is not yet born,
and in a time that is not yet come." (Andrew Lang)

Haggard’s gift for dramatic storytelling and Andrew Lang’s scholarship work well in tandem; together, they create a new mythology that mixes seamlessly with historical record and an imperial Gothic narrative, marking the end of the Bronze Age and the birth of a new one. While the book is not quite of the same calibre as his other African lost-world adventures, it is equally satisfying in its undoubted scholarship regarding both Greek and Egyptian history and mythology. Lang’s talent and poetic gifts are evident throughout, while Haggard’s is the hand that created the beautiful and evil queen, as well as Odysseus's genius in the strategy and tactics of a force much weaker in men and arms against an overwhelming power.

[Aaron Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love. Lust.
Helen of Troy=The World’s Desire=Woman’s Perfect Beauty

”I am thy doom, thou Wanderer, and wherever thou dost wander through the fields of Life and Death I shall be at thy side. For I am She of whom thou art, and thou art He of whom I am, and though the Gods have severed us, yet must we float together down the river of our lives till we find that sea of which the Spirit knows. Therefore put me not from thee and raise not my wrath against thee, for if I used my magic to bring thee to my arms, yet they are thy home.”

“…perchance because I suffered thy guile to overcome my wisdom, because I swore upon That which circles thee about, and not by the Red Star which gleams upon the Helen's breast, it may be that I shall lose her whom I love… But if I lost her or if I win, know this, that I love her and her only, and I hate thee like the gates of hell. For thou hast tricked me with thy magic, thou hast stolen the shape of Beauty's self and dared to wear it…”

“Yea, there is forgiveness, Odysseus, but first there is
punishment. This is thy fate. Never now, in this space of life, shalt thou be the lord of the Golden Helen. For thou hast sworn by the Snake, and his thou art, nor mayest thou reach the Star. Yet it still shines on. Through the mists of death it shall shine for thee, and when thou wakest again, behold, thine eyes shall see it fitfully.”

[Anjali Uthpala · Rating 5 out of 5]

ග්‍රන්ත නාමය - ලෝකයේ ආශාව
පිටු - 335

H. රයිඩර් හැගාර්ඩ් සහ ඇන්ඩෲ ලැන්ග් කර්තෘවරු විසින් රචිත the word's desire නම් ග්‍රන්තයෙ සින්හල ග්‍රන්තය වන ලෝකයෙ ආශාව කෘතීය එස්. චන්ද්‍රසිරි දසනායක මහතා විසින් සින්හලයට පරිවර්තනය කර ඇත. එමෙන්ම මෙම කෘතීය දයාවන්ශ ජයකොඩි සහ සමාගම විසින් ප්‍රකාශයට කර ඇත.

මෙම ග්‍රන්තයේ ප්‍රධාන චරිත කිහිපයක් අපට දැක ගත හැකිය. එනම් ග්‍රීක පුරාවෘත වල එන ඔඩිසියස් , ලොකයෙ සුන්දර ම කාන්තාව වශයෙන් සැලකෙන ග්‍රික හෙලෙන සහ ඊජිප්තු රජුගෙ අගබිසව මෙන්ම සහෝදරිය වන මෙරියාමුන් රැජිනයී.

ග්‍රන්තය තුලම මෙම කතාව ප්‍රධාන කොටස් 3 කට බෙදා ඇති අතර එම කොටස් තුල කතාව නැවත පරිච්ඡේද වලට වෙන් කර ඇත. මෙම නවකතාවට පාදක ව ඇත්තේ ට්‍රොයිපුර සන්ග්‍රාමයේ වූ ඔඩිසියස් ලෝකයේ රූප සුන්දරිය වශයෙන් සැලකෙන හෙලෙනා සොයා ගිය ඔහුගේ වීර චාරිකාවයි. මෙම කතාවේ දැක ගත හැකී වන තවත් විශේශ ලක්ශනයක් වන්නේ කිහිප තැනකම නිසදැස් ඇතුලත් විමය. එසේම මෙම කතාවේ උප කතාවක් වශයෙන් ස්තාන කිහිපයකම බයිබලයෙ නික්මයාමෙ කතාවස්තුවේ සමහර ස්තානද ඇතුලත් ව තිබෙනු දැක ගත හැකිය.
ආදරය , වීරත්වය , ඉර්ශයාව සියල්ල එකතූ වූ සුන්තර කතාවක් වශයෙන් මෙම පොත දැක්විය හැකිය.

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 1 out of 5]

Failure. The attempt at repeating word phrases and tropes twenty or thirty times to recreate the sense of a Homeric epic is a disaster. Instead, Desire ends up repetitive and tedious. The scenario of Odysseus fleeing from devastated Ithaca to Egypt, where he meets up with Helen of Troy who has set herself up as the goddess, Hathor, turns into a yack-fest between the two and the Queen of Egypt who is jealous of Helen/Hathor and wants Odysseus (the "Wanderer") for herself. Oh, and by the way, at the same time, the captive ancient Israelites have set loose the seven plagues in order to gain their liberty. When the dialog isn't pompous, it's trite. And the first four chapters, written by Haggard's co-author, apparently, should warn you of what is ahead: boredom.

[Trounin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Пример Хаггарда полезен всем беллетристам без исключения. Зная ситуацию в общем, писатель способен создать приятное глазу произведение, пусть и с существенными расхождениями с общепринятой версией о прошлом. Не для того существует основная масса художественной литературы, чтобы давать представление о чём-то конкретном. Она позволяет смотреть на привычное привычным же образом, но с осознанием, что в жизни должно быть место такому, чего в жизни никогда не случается.

(c) Trounin

[Joseph Carrabis · Rating 2 out of 5]

The World's Desire started off wonderfully...and quickly faded. I didn't mind the older storytelling style - lots of narrative and exposition, not lots of character development, lots of scene description, linear plot - but the book was tedious. Mindnumbingly tedious.
I suggest giving it a pass unless you're a Haggard scholar (author of She, King Solomon's Mines, and several other, far better books).

[Nickolai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Детская сказка, лишенная какой-либо исторической основы. Хотя Хаггард, несомненно, пишет очень легко и увлекательно.

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read this before, but there are aspects of it that fascinate me. Off the top of my head, there are two things:

1) Haggard and Lang collaborated on this. Both men are interesting writers on their own, and Lang certainly played a crucial role in promoting Haggard's romances. Despite their close ties, Haggard and Lang have very different interests and styles in some ways, and this book is a bizarre turn for both of them.

2) The crossover between the book of Exodus and the Odyssey. Who knew that Odysseus, after his second voyage, ended up in Egypt looking for Helen of Troy? That that Pharaoh's wife would become obsessed with him? Haggard and Lang knew this!

Check it out! It's certainly better than a number of Haggard's other works...

[Norman Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being the further adventures of Odysseus, this is a fast-paced adventure/romance that is my favorite book by Haggard so far. Haggard and Lang captured the feeling of a classical Greek epic, which is not surprising, considering Lang's background as a translator of The Odyssey and The Iliad. The story sends Odysseus on a quest to find his true love, Helen of Troy, after the fall of Ithaca. Odysseus's trials culminate when he finds himself in a love triangle with Helen and the cunning Meriamun, wife and sister to the Pharaoh of Egypt. Haggard's sense of adventure carries the story along at a brisk pace, filled with exotic characters.

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. In some ways this is very old-fashioned, with the characters as one-note archetypes (Meriamun the scheming Bad Girl, Helen the embodiment of desire, Odysseus the Epic Hero), so if you want in-depth characterization, be warned. In other ways this is just amazingly off-the-wall: following the death of his wife Penelope, Odysseus journeys to Egypt seeking his first love, Helen of Troy, and arrives just as this slave race is unleashing plagues of locusts and darkness upon the land. Oh, and Odysseus, Helen and Meriamun are three parts of an eternal triangle destined to reoccur until the two women can fuse their good and bad spirits into one again. So for me,definitely worth rereading.

[Bruce Nordstrom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is really an enjoyable classic fantasy novel. First time I read it, and the surprises just kept coming. The last adventure of Odysseus- in Egypt. And Helen of Troy is there!

If you are a fan of "the Odyssey," and you wondered what ever happened to the guy after he got home, this book will tell you. This is a great story, but I did have a little trouble sorting out some of the Victorian sentence structure and expressions. But once I got started, I could not put it down.

Great leisure reading. You will love it.

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating excursion into Egypt from the man who gave us She Who Must Be Obeyed and Alan Quartermain. Odysseus goes to Egypt in search of Helen of Troy and meets Moses on his way out of Egypt. I suspect only Haggard could think of that combination. What makes him timeless, as opposed to his many imitators, is that his heroes are flawed, his writing has drive and verve, and his plots are always interesting. Lots of fun.

[Kmgreen]

referenced in "The High House"